Judge Edith Jones Wants To Know If We Can Legislate Based On Her Outdated Stereotypes
Kind of puts a lot of the past into perspective.
Trump Judge Tries To Put Reasonable Spin On ‘I Don’t Like Trans People,’ Fails
Judge argues that he's too stupid to keep track of someone's pronouns and in fairness he might be.
Keeping Law School Accessible When Federal Loans Fall Short
As federal borrowing caps tighten financing options for law students, one organization is stepping in to negotiate the terms they can't secure alone.
Morning Docket: 07.12.18
* Brett Kavanaugh built up around $200K in debt buying Washington Nationals tickets. This may be the Federalist Society's biggest vetting failure ever because all real conservative jurists would say they went $200K in debt buying Montreal Expos tickets. [Deadspin] * Ohio pulls obscure law out of a hat to harass Stormy Daniels for daring to point out that Donald Trump is a scumbag. [NY Times] * "Jesus never broke immigration law" says Evangelical Trumper whose religion is entirely based on a guy admitting he was an outlaw and getting the death penalty for it. [Vox] * Just when you were getting used to WestlawNext, WestlawEdge is here to radically change the game. [LegaltechNews] * Texas professors who don't want to die will take their case to the Fifth Circuit. [CBS News] * Lawyer says Shady orchestrated the assault on his ex. [Denver Post] * Trump pardoned the thugs who put the lives of firefighters in danger and then inspired an armed standoff with federal officers and then Mike Pence's buddy gave them a private jet home. [Oregon Live]
5th Circuit Lashes Out Over Attorney’s ‘Gifts’ To Witnesses
If this shows up on your Professional Responsibility issue-spotter then you're in pretty good shape.
Non-Sequiturs: 04.22.18
* Joel Cohen makes the case for appointing a special master to review the attorney-client privilege claims in the case of Michael Cohen (no relation). [Law and Crime] * A fun profile of Judge Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.), who's presiding over the Cohen case -- and who "doesn't need to eat the whole barrel to know it's not a pickle." [Politico] * Circuit judges can play it safe, in the hopes of making it to the Supreme Court someday, or they can be bold (which might help their SCOTUS chances, or might hurt them); Judge James Ho is going for the second approach. [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit] * Professor Eugene Volokh: "What is this, Mean Girls: Supreme Court Edition?" [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason] * Still on SCOTUS, which leading appellate lawyers (according to Chambers & Partners) have the most active practices before the high court? [Empirical SCOTUS] * What's the best new legal-information product out there, and what's the best new product feature or function? Survey says.... [Dewey B Strategic] * Because having a law school named after him wasn't enough, Philadelphia trial lawyer Thomas R. Kline is now honored by a giant marble statue. [Philly.com] * The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide an important case about academic freedom (and Above the Law gets cited in the amicus brief of the National Association of Scholars -- see footnote 29). [Badger Pundit] * Congratulations to former Miss America winner Deidre Downs Gunn and attorney and writer Abbott Jones on their recent nuptials! [People] * And congratulations to the recipients of 2018's Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Awards! [LGBT Bar]
President Trump’s Eleventh Wave Of Judicial Nominees
Look for more confirmations in the very near future.
AI Is Reshaping Legal Practice—But Tools Aren’t The Real Differentiator.
Explore the mindset, cultural shifts, and training strategies that define the AI‑savvy lawyer, revealing why human judgment, standardized competence, and integrated learning—not technology alone—will shape the future of the profession.
Morning Docket: 02.15.18
* A white substance sent to Stanford Law School turned out to be harmless, but the school remains concerned based an accompanying threat. [Stanford University News] * This prolonged malaise in the legal sector? Yeah, that's not normal. [Law.com] * Fifth Circuit agrees that the bail system employed in the Houston area is unconstitutional. But, you know, didn't go so far as to actually release anybody. [Courthouse News Service] * Selendy & Gay opens for business today after striking out on their own from Quinn Emanuel. [American Lawyer] * Playboy's suit against Boing Boing -- which sounds funnier than it is -- was dismissed for failing to state a copyright claim. Playboy had sued Boing Boing for reporting on a website that contained copyrighted material in a certainly felt like a wild overreach. [EFF] * Partner's son admits to embezzling $827K from firm. Whenever one of these office manager embezzling stories comes up I'm always left wondering how people manage to miss the first $826,999.
The Latest And Greatest In President Trump’s Judicial Nominations (Part 1)
Here's a rundown of where things stand, including district as well as circuit courts.
Trump Just Opened Up ANOTHER Seat On The Fifth Circuit
Problem: the administration doesn't have enough ambassadors. Solution: start sending federal judges and nominating their replacements.
A Surprising Turn In The Fifth Circuit Sweepstakes (Plus Seven Other Federal Judicial Nominees)
Congratulations to the two Texas nominees, including a celebrity tweeter!
What Biglaw Can Learn From Personal Injury Firms
How a former insurance agent built a Houston injury practice around systems, empathy, and disciplined advocacy.
Morning Docket: 09.20.17
* Hogan Lovells shows the love to its support staff -- as long as they head for the exits -- by offering voluntary retirement to 400 employees. [Legal Week] * Another jailhouse pal of Sigfredo Garcia, one of the defendants in the Dan Markel murder case, claims that Garcia acknowledged participating in the killing. [Tallahassee Democrat] * The Texas-sized drama over those open Fifth Circuit seats shows no signs of being resolved anytime soon. [BuzzFeed via How Appealing] * One of outgoing dean Daniel Rodriguez's biggest achievements at Northwestern Law: bringing down average student indebtedness by roughly a third. [Law.com] * The gold that Donald Trump is showering upon his lawyers in the Russia probe reportedly comes from donations to his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. [Reuters via ABA Journal] * Speaking of the Russia inquiry, can White House counsel Don McGahn claim attorney-client privilege to withhold information from special counsel Robert Mueller? [Reuters via How Appealing] * Unintended consequences: the high cost of Biglaw associates is driving entry-level hiring of in-house lawyers. [Am Law Daily] * What's behind the trend of women leaving Biglaw to start their own boutiques? [Big Law Business]
Injunction Stops Texas ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law: ‘Cause It’s Unconstitutional, Not Just Post-Harvey Cruel
The Constitution continues to stop the racists, but for how long?
Circuit Court Nominees In The Trump Administration: The Latest News And Rumor (Part 1)
What are the chances of these folks getting confirmed?
Non-Sequiturs: 06.30.17
Ed. note: Early wishes for a happy July 4th weekend! We'll be back on Wednesday, July 5 (barring unforeseen news). * I don't know that free speech is under cultural attack, as this post argues. But I do think people are using lawsuits to bash speech they don't like. Instead of lecturing people about the sacred right of Nazis to intimidate people on Twitter, I'd rather the First Amendment crowd came up with a real regime of sanctions for people who bring lawsuits against clearly protected speech. I just don't know that the Deplorable fanboys would recognize that as a sufficient way to fight for their freedom to talk out of their asses. [Popehat] * The Fifth Circuit has now conferred qualified immunity on expert witnesses, deployed to spout whatever nonsense the government thinks will help them gain a conviction. The Democrat who runs on a criminal justice reform platform that included changing the rules around qualified immunity would probably get my vote. Instead they'll probably run a Goldman executive with an innovative plan to retrain bigoted hill people for the hi-tech jobs of the future. [Simple Justice] * What Trump is actually trying to do with his voter fraud investigation is horrifying. But Professor Rick Hasen says it won't work, and I'm going to trust him because I do not want to get pissed off about a whole new thing this close to a long weekend. [Slate] * Texas isn't sure that same-sex marriage means that same-sex couples get marriage benefits. Sigh. Look, Texas is going to lose its fight against gay people, eventually. YOU HEAR THAT YOU HAT WEARIN' COWBOYS? Gay people are going to kick your ass and have sex in your Alamo. [Texas Tribune] * Based on the settlement data, The Root came up with a methodology to calculate the worth of a black life. Ballpark, the state pays about $3,364,875 per family for the right to kill us without criminal accountability. If you've got thoughts about how the state spends too much money in settlements, keep them to yourself. [The Root] * Stay safe out there this long weekend. The Texas Law Hawk has some fireworks safety tips. [Texas Law Hawk] * Checking in with the Alt-Right, I could go with all the stories about how people have called Kellyanne Conway "ugly," which is apparently the Alt-Right defense for the president mocking Mika Brzezinski? But this headline is just too good: "Germany Surrenders to Trump, Waters Down G20 Climate Plan #Winning" They're making water puns, y'all. They are defiant. You can't even blame the Earth for trying to kill all of us. [Breitbart]
Morning Docket: 06.23.17
* Federal investigators are delving into multimillion-dollar deals involving former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai. [New York Times] * The Fifth Circuit lifts the injunction against H.B. 1523, Mississippi's notorious "religious freedom" law that many regard as antigay (but the court ruled on jurisdictional rather than gay-hating grounds). [Texas Lawyer] * In the wake of a mistrial in the criminal case against him, Bill Cosby plans to educate young men on how to avoid accusations of sexual assault. (My advice: don't commit sexual assault.) [New York Times] * The Fourth Circuit affirms almost all the convictions of ex-CIA officer in a leak case -- a potentially significant ruling if the Trump administration follows through on its threats to prosecute leakers. [How Appealing] * The Seventh Circuit declines to reinstate the conviction of Brendan Dassey, the defendant made famous by Making A Murderer. [ABA Journal] * Martin Shkreli, aka "Pharma Bro," is gearing up for trial -- and, for the record, he is "so innocent." [New York Times] * More disturbing news from my ancestral homeland of the Philippines, involving accusations that the police are shaking down families in distress as part of President Rodrigo Duterte's "war on drugs." [Washington Post]